In today's world of technology, it has become easier than ever before to communicate with people using one or more of a variety of communication methods, such as email, telephone, fax, instant messaging, and so on. Communication and personal organizer programs typically have the ability to display messages received from one or more of these various sources. Some communication programs operate in a web browser, such as MICROSOFT® Office OUTLOOK® Web Access (OWA), Yahoo Mail, AOL Mail, and others. With such disconnected applications, the server is not contacted until something is needed, such as when the user performs an action that requires the page to be updated or changed. When new communication messages are received on the server, the client is not updated with the new content until the user selects an option to perform a manual refresh of the page's contents, or until the user otherwise takes some action causing the client to request that the server provide such updated information.